Getting stuck in as emergency cover at right wing-back, on his 23rd birthday, has earned Harrison Reed a whole load of additional respect among Norwich City fans.

The Southampton loanee hasn't quite found the consistency he's striving for in central midfield yet this season but put in a tenacious and determined shift as cover for injured skipper Ivo Pinto during Saturday's 1-0 win at Brentford.

'Ivo's been struggling all week so I had a little inkling,' Reed said of the switch. 'I've done it before in training, so I thought the boss might give me the call and he actually did it on Friday night just after dinner.

'He said 'how do you find being a bit flexible on your birthday?' and I said yeah, I'm up for it. As a midfielder I'm quite aware of my position and I had big Grant (Hanley) next to me to help me through the game, which was good. I was quite confident coming into the game, had watched a few clips of right-back before the game so I'm pleased with the performance, pleased with the win and buzzing!'

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Reed had the lively presence of Brentford's joint top scorer Ollie Watkins to deal with, as well as adventurous French defender Yoann Barbet, as the Bees put him under pressure – which he stood up to admirably.

'I think they might have looked at the right-back situation before the game and identified that as a weakness of ours,' he added.

'The left-back was bombing on, Watkins was coming inside and outside of me so it was difficult for me a couple of times but I think I got the better of him!'

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The victory at Griffin Park – thanks to James Maddison's superb long-range strike – was all the more impressive because the Bees were unbeaten in 13 home Championship games, as Daniel Farke's side picked up their fourth win in six league matches.

'It's been an up and down season for us but when we find consistency and defend well as a unit, we've got the attacking players to score goals,' Reed continued.

'So we need to find the basics, when we do that we seem to win games. Brentford had been beaten first game of the season (at home in the league) and hadn't been beaten since. So we've shown what we can do when we put in a team performance and our quality at the other end of the pitch shows.'